Andrew Gordon – Russian Machine Never Breakshttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com
We're the relentlessly fun Washington Capitals blog hopelessly devoted to Alex Ovechkin, Dmitry Orlov, and Evgeny Kuznetsov!Fri, 09 Dec 2016 16:58:37 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7RMNB Podcast: Talking #FirstLineBeagle, the NES Classic, and President-elect Donald Trump from a Canadian’s perspectivehttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2016/11/18/rmnb-podcast-talking-firstlinebeagle-the-nes-classic-and-president-elect-donald-trump-from-a-canadians-perspective/
http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2016/11/18/rmnb-podcast-talking-firstlinebeagle-the-nes-classic-and-president-elect-donald-trump-from-a-canadians-perspective/#commentsFri, 18 Nov 2016 05:48:18 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=117327The RMNB Podcast is back after a three-week hiatus and we’re here to talk about all the important issues facing our new world like Why did Nintendo make so few NES Classics?

Wednesday night, literally 120 minutes before the Caps had their most emphatic victory of the season, former Capital Andrew Gordon and myself chatted about all the latest Caps gossip. But we also jumped head first into some other interesting topics like how angry do NHL coaches get behind the scenes (AKA do they really throw chairs?), how much money do NHL players actually make after taxes/agent fees/escrow, and what it takes to achieve maximum line chemistry.

And if you don’t care about any of that, we talk about President-elect Donald Trump. Hoooo boy.

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]]>http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2016/11/18/rmnb-podcast-talking-firstlinebeagle-the-nes-classic-and-president-elect-donald-trump-from-a-canadians-perspective/feed/12Sound the Chorn Horn because Taylor Chorney’s on the RMNB Podcasthttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2016/10/25/sound-the-chorn-horn-because-taylor-chorneys-on-the-rmnb-podcast/
http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2016/10/25/sound-the-chorn-horn-because-taylor-chorneys-on-the-rmnb-podcast/#commentsTue, 25 Oct 2016 05:52:47 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=115677Monday afternoon, Andrew Gordon and I plugged in our semi-professional microphones and baked up another fresh RMNB Podcast. Joining us on the show this week was special guest: Capitals defenseman Taylor Chorney.

The articulate and funny Chorney spoke to us about his long and winding road to the NHL, his best friend on the team, what the Caps Halloween Party was like, his favorite music, playing at North Dakota with TJ Oshie, why no one can walk on the Caps logo in the locker room, being a #CapsDad, and if he’s heard of the Chorn Horn.

We played our new theme music again. Oh you want me to embed it? If you insist!

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Please let us know your feedback in the comments below.

]]>http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2016/10/25/sound-the-chorn-horn-because-taylor-chorneys-on-the-rmnb-podcast/feed/4New RMNB Podcast features actual theme music, a Nate Schmidt interview, and new co-host Andrew Gordonhttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2016/10/13/new-rmnb-podcast-features-actual-theme-music-a-nate-schmidt-interview-and-new-co-host-andrew-gordon/
http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2016/10/13/new-rmnb-podcast-features-actual-theme-music-a-nate-schmidt-interview-and-new-co-host-andrew-gordon/#commentsThu, 13 Oct 2016 05:36:56 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=114369The RMNB Podcast is back for a new season and it’s 100x more Swedish.

Peter, who is too busy to return my calls, texts, and desperate notes via carrier pigeon, has been thrown to the curb for new co-host Andrew Gordon. Yes, the same Andrew Gordon who once scored goals for the Capitals and smooched Marcus Johansson on the cheek. The former Calder Cup-winning Hershey Bear and Teemu Selanne apologist is now playing for the Swedish Hockey League’s Linköping HC.

As you’ll see in our first new podcast of the 2016-17 season, Gordo has a ton of fascinating insight and amazing stories about many former and current Caps. Our discussion took place Wednesday night ahead of Opening Night in the NHL. Gordo was speaking to me from his apartment in Sweden while I phoned in from Frederick, Maryland.

And we debut our new theme music. It was created by one of my favorite artists: Andy Tongren of the Young Rising Sons. Caps PA Announcer Wes Johnson also gives us a fiery introduction. (Special note: he recorded this clip for us four years ago when he created custom voice messages for every member of the blog. We finally used the clip and it sounds so amazing!)

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Our tentative plan moving forward is to make the RMNB Podcast much more frequent (weekly or biweekly). Gordo and I also intend on bringing more guests onto to the show including players, RMNB authors, and other journalists from across the league. Sound good?

There’s been a lot of talk recently about how to improve the game of hockey– bigger nets, smaller goalie gear, smaller goalies, more teams, and so on. But I would ask a different question: What’s so wrong with it right now?

It’s true that it’s getting harder out there for goal scorers. Last season saw the lowest league-leading scoring total since Stan Mikita could only muster up 87 points in 1967-68 (in a 74 game season). The days of Gretzky scoring more than 200 points per season are long gone.

But so are the days when only a few teams in a given year had a real chance to win it all. During the high-scoring days of 1969-1993, eight different teams won the Stanley Cup. In those 25 years, Montreal won it nine times. Edmonton won it five times. In the 20 years since, 11 different teams have won the Cup, and only Detroit has won it more than three times.

The scoring hay-day created some historic moments and essentially shaped the brand of hockey that fans expect from the stars of our game today, but I think many of those championship teams would be hard pressed to be in the top four or five in today’s NHL. The way the game is played today hardly resembles that of the ’80s Oilers, but that’s not to say that today’s NHL is worse. Far from it.

With the decline in goal-scoaring has come incredible parity across the league. What’s better from a fan’s perspective, seeing lots of goals or seeing your team in a battle every night? In today’s NHL, every game is important. Anybody can beat you if you have an off night. That’s the spirit of competition in a nutshell.

Strong competition was one of the driving forces behind the last few lockouts– maintaining a level playing field for all teams by preventing one team from simply forking over enough money to buy success. We’ve seen that come to fruition over the last two decades, and the league and the game are in better shape because of it.

Yes, the game is hard and only getting harder. But therein lies the beauty. Achievement in the face of adversity tastes that much sweeter. The season Jamie Benn had last year is equally impressive as any previous scoring champion who put up 30+ more points, if not more so, because he did it in one of the best defensive seasons in history. He found a way to score when the game was at its strongest. That’s quite a feat, and he doesn’t get enough credit for that.

I’m all in favor of tweaking rules that will speed up the game, increase player safety, and create more offense. Recent subtle changes have made a very positive impact on the game without changing the face of what we already love. No-touch icing has made the game much safer. Removing the two-line pass and giving a penalty for shooting the puck over the glass have helped create minor advantages for the offensive team. Those are great changes, in part because they made the game better without making it easier.

That’s where the current conversation goes wrong. It seems based on the premise that it should be easier to score goals.

If you are just looking to create more goals, making nets bigger or goalie pads smaller are obvious quick fixes. But to a lot of hockey fans (and players) out there, it’s not just about going to the rink and seeing as many goals as possible. It’s the game itself that we love. Call me a purist, call me afraid of change, but the game has evolved over time, and I think people appreciate that.

The numbers don’t lie in that scoring is down, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Hockey is still the fastest game on earth. It’s still the most dynamic combination of speed and athleticism in the sports world. So if it’s not broken, why fix it?

Andrew Gordon plays right wing for Linkoping HC of the Swedish Hockey League. He previously played for the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks, and Vancouver Canucks of the NHL, and won two Calder Cups with the Hershey Bears.

Success can be defined in a million different ways. It’s something we all desire, but there is no one way to measure it. To me, it’s all a feeling of satisfaction in what you are doing. Plain and simple. Are you happy doing what you are doing? If yes, welcome to success.

Although I hate to think about the R-word, retirement is always just an eye injury away. The threat of being forced into the real world is at the tip of an opponent’s errant stick. In the article, Mills talks about his life on the proverbial NHL “bubble” where players take up residence when they are on the cusp of making it to the NHL full- time, or being a career minor leaguer. The term “yo-yo” is often used for players who spend year after year going up, then coming down, then going up, then coming down…get it? It’s often viewed as a negative thing, the bubble, but I happily lived there for the majority of my first 6-7 years as a pro. To me the bubble was a privileged place where somebody in a front office somewhere thought I was good enough to play in the NHL. And better yet, they felt that way frequently enough to call be back again and again and again. Sure, there were some tough days when I got sent down, and as a competitor you always want more, but I truly believed every time that I would go back up to the NHL one day. That made all my send downs a little easier. Looking back on those days now, do my mere 55 games played make my NHL career a failure?

(Side story: my last year with Hershey/Washington I played only 9 NHL games but was sent down four times. NHL opening day, my birthday, Christmas Eve, and two days before the Winter Classic in Pittsburgh. You can’t make this stuff up.)

My minor league career was kind of charmed. Maybe things were different for other guys. I have been fortunate to play (with the odd exception) in cities I liked, in beautiful arenas, in front of great crowds, for teams with winning records. If you are being sent from an NHL paradise to a last place American league team, things may have been a little more upsetting, but with the situations I found myself in, through the sadness I was excited to go back to a group of guys I liked with a much bigger roll on the team waiting for me. Life could have been a whole lot worse, let me tell you.

But, after eight years of working and striving to achieve hockey supremacy, it became time for me to look in a new direction: Europe. Although I had only been there once for a short stay (see my previous post), I had long been a fan of European hockey and had a fairly good grasp on what was ahead of me well before I ever signed a contract. As a kid I loved researching players online, and seeing as some of my favorite players were European I was intrigued to learn more about these goofy club names that I would see on hockeydb.com. Learning that there was another world of hockey available to me outside of the NHL coverage I would see on TSN was great fun! TPS Turku, MODO Hockey, SC Bern, Moscow Dynamo. To a 14-year-old hockey nut, those were teams I wanted to know more about.

As I got older and turned pro, I was seeing teammates come from overseas to join us, and players leave from the AHL/NHL to play abroad, which brought me even closer to the European hockey scene. I was now able to see who fit in where, what kinds of players were producing and playing well in various countries, thus allowing me to draw conclusions on where I might fit in if I were to ever cross the pond. Each country/league here in Europe has a unique way of playing the game, and some players can have great numbers in one league only to struggle in another. I found that strange until I saw it firsthand. A certain player’s style and that of the chosen league don’t always mesh. That’s part of what makes coming overseas a hard decision for a lot of guys. Will I fit in? What if I cant play the way I know how? If I get released what am I going to do? Scary questions when deciding if you are going to leave your comfort zone.

In the AHL I knew exactly what to expect every night. Some nights felt like deja vu. But it was the fear of the unknown that pushed me through the door of that plane headed for Linköping. I was ready for the unknown. I was ready to feel uncomfortable. I was ready for something, Anything new. I’ll repeat myself: I loved my time in the AHL, which is why I stuck around for so long. The hockey and the people were great to me everywhere I went, but I was growing tired of the same hotels and the same arenas in the same cities with the same routines. There was another world out there; I just had to choose to explore it.

One of the best people I have ever met in hockey, Brian Willsie, told me something along the lines of this: Don’t go to Europe until you are completely ready. Don’t go for money, or because you had a bad season, or for any other reason except the fact that you are ready to leave the NHL behind. If you do, you will live with the what if’s that will keep you up at night. When the moment hits and you are ready, the experience will be ten times more exciting and you can look back on your career with no regrets.

I had that moment. I remember it vividly. I was playing for Lehigh Valley and we were on the road in Manchester early in the season. I woke up in the hotel on game day and as I walked into the restaurant to have the same meal I had a thousand times before, I remember thinking “this is what Brian was talking about. I’m there. I’m ready.” The allure of maybe getting called up for three more games no longer outweighed the advantages of going overseas and grabbing a new life experience by the horns. It was an epiphany. I was completely sure I was ready for a change. Within an hour, I had my agent on the phone: “Spread the word…I’m looking to relocate.”

Playing overseas has a lot of upside. From a financial standpoint it usually works out in the player’s favor compared to the American League. Here, contracts are negotiated in net figures, so if a team feels you are worth $70,000 U.S dollars, you get $70,000 US dollars free and clear. On top of that you have a lot of living expenses covered for you. When you show up you are handed the keys to your apartment, the keys to your car, and in my case a cell phone plan that is all paid by the team. Back home, that’s at least a couple thousand dollars out of your pocket. So not only are you making a little more, but you are spending a lot less over the nine months you are away, and that can add up if you are smart about it.

From an athletic perspective it’s a new game here. First of all, we play only a 52 game schedule with no back-to-back games, making things easier on the body. The season is a long haul in North America, and when you are playing three games in three nights almost every weekend, you are simply unable to put forward your best effort every night. A lot of Sunday afternoon games are more about survival than playing your best. The human body needs rest to compete at the highest level, and we get that here. Playing two-three games a week creates a better on-ice product and healthier bodies. I’m hoping to play until I’m 40 now that I made the switch.

The game itself is also different. It’s a pure puck-control game, and it has been an interesting challenge for our coaching staff to teach me to take things slowly out there. AHL/NHL hockey is played on smaller rinks so everything happens faster, and there are times when chipping the puck off the glass is all you can do. Here, that would be a last resort. Our d-men are taught to hold it, hold it, hold it, turn back, make an extra pass take the forechecker on 1-on-1…anything to not lose possession.

I look at a d-man like Johnny Oduya (Caps draft pick in 2001), and I see a skilled two-way player with an incredible career who seems to get crushed every game. Why? Because he was taught to hold the puck and make a good play, not just a safe play. Sometimes that means drawing a forechecker in so close that you find out what his elbow pad tastes like. But that’s hockey in Sweden. I find it a more fun brand of hockey because it is strategic, skilled, and there are fewer guys trying to take your head off. Every North American team has a guy trying to be the next Zac Rinaldo. If you are head-hunting in Europe, you will get caught out of position and the puck will land in the back of your net. Skill trumps physical play here.

Since I made the move, people asked me how it feels to “give up on the NHL” and “give up on my dreams.” To both questions, I say it feels great.

I don’t see my first eight seasons as a failure. I lived my dream. I played with and against the greatest players of my generation. I lived those days the best way I knew how. I may not have played 1000 NHL games, but I can look back and be proud –like Brian Willsie said I would.

I am not sad to see the NHL in my rearview; I am thrilled about whats ahead of me. Since moving here I have played in four countries and traveled to even more on my off days. I am seeing the world meeting new people. It’s only been three months, but I’m living a life I couldn’t have dreamed as a kid.

I believe success is in the eye of the individual. When I think about my career as an old man, I won’t think about all the things I didn’t accomplish. I’ll remember the things this game gave me and the little triumphs that came with each step on my path. When I left home at sixteen, I didn’t come running back to my parents with my tail between my legs. I might not have been an NHL All-Star, but I tried hard and had a few “cups of coffee.” That is a small success.

Being here in Sweden is not a mark of failure. Hockey here is thrilling, and I’m enjoying it more than I have since I was 24. That’s another small success. By enjoying myself at every stop on my tour (12 cities/teams and counting since leaving home in 2002), I’m living a life I can be proud of. It has nothing to do with how many NHL games I played or how many dollars are in my bank account. It’s about enjoying the ride. Being a professional athlete is and has always been about the journey, not the destination, and perhaps it took a move like this for me to realize that it’s the little things that go into making a career. My body of work will be with me forever, and I will be able to say I succeeded because, one day, I’ll leave this game as a happy man.

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be a success.” — Albert Schweitzer

Until next time folks, adjö!

]]>http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2015/11/11/andrew-gordon-why-i-gave-up-my-nhl-dream-for-european-hockey/feed/34What It Was Like Playing With Teemu Selanne And Why He’s One of the Greatest Players Everhttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2015/10/26/what-it-was-like-playing-with-teemu-selanne-and-why-hes-one-of-the-greatest-players-ever/
http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2015/10/26/what-it-was-like-playing-with-teemu-selanne-and-why-hes-one-of-the-greatest-players-ever/#commentsMon, 26 Oct 2015 15:01:55 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=92461

Photo: Marianne Helm

Hey, everyone! It’s good to be back. As if there isn’t enough exciting hockey to write about in DC, Ian Oland and the RMNB team have hired me to be their Swedish correspondent so I can give a player’s perspective on what’s going on in the wonderful world of hockey.

I want to begin the second tour of my blogging career with a tribute to a guy who, from a young age, inspired me to become a hockey player and to work on my game — despite us not crossing paths until I was 25 years old. That man is Teemu Selanne. He’s the NHL player we all love to love. That in and of itself is a strange phenomenon in any sport. For hockey fans to (almost) unanimously appreciate a player is rare. People love Ovi, but there are people who hate Ovi. People love Carey Price, but there are people who hate Carey Price. In all my years of hockey I don’t think I have ever heard a person on either side of the glass say that they don’t like Teemu Selanne. You either like him or love him. Not a bad way to go through your career.

To give you a little backstory, Teemu and I started our careers at the same time… kind of. I first strapped on skates and took to the ice in an organized practice as a six-year-old in the same season that Teemu left Finland to join the Winnipeg Jets in 1992-93. My father was born in Nova Scotia but spent the majority of his first 25 years living in Winnipeg and thus was an avid Jets fan. At the time I was barely old enough to watch hockey on TV and figure out what was going on. I wanted to like the same things as my dad. So, early on, Teemu had a couple big fans watching him from the east coast.

It was easy to find updates on him that season: he scored 76 goals. Still a mind-numbing figure and a record I don’t think will ever be broken. From that season on I was hooked. I wore number 13 whenever I had a chance up, until Teemu switched to number 8 (I am back in #13 this year). I had Teemu posters on my bedroom walls. I had a DVD of his rookie season highlights (called “The New Boss”) that I watched daily, and whenever I was on the ice or in the basement playing road hockey I was Teemu and I was working on whatever move I just saw him pull or reenacting the latest goal I saw him score. The way Wayne Gretzky looked at Gordie Howe, that’s how I looked at Teemu.

Fast forward 19 years. It’s July 1, 2011. It’s my first trip through the free agent market and who is the first team that calls? The Anaheim Ducks. After accepting the offer I spoke to my dad on the phone. He was so thrilled that I was going to get to meet Teemu. He wasn’t excited about the opportunity or the salary, at least not at first. He was just excited I would rub shoulders with Teemu Selanne.

Once training camp rolled around, I was too starstruck to talk to him. I had played only 12 NHL games at that point, so I was far from a lock to make the team. I didn’t have any reason to walk up and introduce myself as if I were noteworthy. But Teemu being Teemu, he came and found me. He asked me about my sticks, the curve, the flex, how I came up with the pattern and so on … which I’m sure he didn’t care about seeing as he had used the same pattern since dinosaurs roamed the earth. But he showed an interest when he didn’t have to.

This would become a common theme with Teemu.

By the end of training camp I was on the Ducks roster and on my way to Finland for the season opener. We spent ten days in Helsinki and a few more in Stockholm playing an exhibition game against the local SM-Liiga club (at the time, now a member of the KHL) Jokerit Helsinki before playing our first two regular season games against the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Rangers. I remember thinking, “wait…so I’m still technically in the NHL, AND I get to go travel around Finland with Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu? This cant be real.” My father almost passed out when I told him. Saku was another of my boyhood idols, as we were also Montreal fans. (I’m sorry if that offends some readers, ha).

I remember really watching those two guys in Helsinki. How they conducted themselves blew my mind. They were kings in that city, but they treated every person they met like an old friend. They had time for everyone. This is not an exaggeration when I say every single person. If you wanted to talk to Teemu about your home town and your beer league team, he would oblige, and he’d be wildly impressed by your story! He and Saku found a way to make people around them feel important. They made the interactions about the other person, not inflating their own egos.

As the year went on, our team was struggling. We were underachieving, playing with tons of pressure and we were finding ways to lose games instead of finding ways to win them. A good example is when we went to DC.Yikes. I still wake up in a cold sweat over that one.

When I came back to the bench after doing the fly-by, the first guy to give me a pat on the head was Teemu. He grabbed me on my helmet and said, “only 640 more till you catch me.” Then he laughed.

He was that kind of guy. He enjoyed the success of those around him, he made others feel good, and he was able to laugh at just about anything.

This last story is a 3-in-1. We were playing on the road in Winnipeg during the Jets’ first year back in the league. It was Teemu’s return. Like me and my father, the NHL had circled that day on the calendar. When we arrived at the hotel in the ‘Peg, there were a hundred Teemu fans wearing throwback number-13 Jets Jerseys, t-shirts, and hats ready to be signed.

(Keep in mind these people stood outside in Winter-peg on December 17 for god knows how long just to see T walk into a hotel.)

As usual, Teemu made sure everyone got what they came for, be it an autograph or a handshake. But there was one moment that is etched in my memory. As I was walking past on my way to the lobby, one of the people waiting for Teemu was a boy with Down’s syndrome. He was an adult man, probably in his mid 20s, standing with someone who I presumed to be his father. As Teemu walked towards the crowd, the boy called out from the second row, “Teemu, do you remember me?” The boy’s father chimed in, saying quietly, almost sheepishly, “we met you at a season ticket holder night when you played for the Jets”.

With that, Teemu’s face lit up and he responded with a quick, “Yes, how are you?” and shook their hands like it was all coming back to him. The boy didn’t respond with much after that; he was just so beside himself, but you could see the boy’s father send Teemu a nod and silent “thank you” as he moved on down the autograph line.

Later on, I asked Teemu about the boy. He said he didn’t actually remember him, he was just trying to make sure the boy had the experience he was hoping for when he showed up that night. This is Teemu taking three seconds out of his day to create a lifelong memory for a boy who could never have that moment back again. By this point in the season I was no longer surprised to hear that he was just being quick-witted enough to make someone’s day, but to see the way he handled the situation was something I have carried around with me ever since.

The game itself was insane. My dad and his high school pals were in attendance while my mother watched from home. She said that it was strange watching the pregame ceremony to see me and Teemu standing shoulder to shoulder on the bench. I guess for her it was one of those “dreams do come true” moments. It was for me too.

After the puck dropped, the crowd gave Teemu a standing ovation for the entire length of his shifts during the first period. The building was electric, as it usually is in Winnipeg, and although we lost the game, it will still go down as one of the greatest nights of my career. After the game, I went to meet my father and his crew in the family waiting area, where there were about 100-plus of Teemu’s friends and family. He took his time and did his thing with everyone who had been supporting him in Winnipeg all those years, but on his way out he stopped and talked for a couple mins with my father and I, again. This time, probably without knowing it, Teemu had created a lasting memory for the two of us. Me, my dad, and Teemu Selanne hanging out having a laugh after an NHL game in Winnipeg. I bet my father didn’t see that coming when he tightened the laces on a six-year-old’s skates for the first time.

When people ask me about Teemu, I can say that, from my short experience, he is without a doubt one of the greatest people in hockey. Bold but true. The term ambassador is tossed around a lot, but I feel it fits for Finnish Flash. From his first shift to the final buzzer, he was an outstanding player. Few have left the game with more respect. I personally learned a lot from him in the few months I spent in Anaheim, and although I wish I could have stuck around for a lot longer, I will always cherish that time.

Not everyone gets to watch and learn from their idols, and the funny thing is, of all the things I learned from Teemu, the best of them had nothing to do with hockey. Enjoy your cigars and scotch, Teemu. No NHL’er has earned it more.

“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Until next time, adjö! (Thats goodbye in Swedish.)

]]>http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2015/10/26/what-it-was-like-playing-with-teemu-selanne-and-why-hes-one-of-the-greatest-players-ever/feed/15This Photo of Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison Has Been In Linköping’s Locker Room For The Last 10 Yearshttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2015/09/10/this-photo-of-mike-knuble-and-brendan-morrison-has-been-in-linkopings-locker-room-for-the-last-10-years/
http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2015/09/10/this-photo-of-mike-knuble-and-brendan-morrison-has-been-in-linkopings-locker-room-for-the-last-10-years/#commentsThu, 10 Sep 2015 17:45:40 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=90208

I got a text from an unknown number on Tuesday. My phone said it was from Sweden.

“Knuble (26 goals in 49 games) and Morrison (16 goals in 45 games) played here during the 2004-05 lockout,” Gordo said. “That’s the only connection. Why it’s still up on the wall ten years later is beyond me.”

“I respect it though,” he added, expressing a sentiment that I share. “How awesome is that posture?”

Answer: Pretty awesome.

So just know every time Andrew Gordon suits up in Sweden, there are two gentlemanly former Caps with him in spirit. Looking extraordinarily tough, wearing compression socks, and leaning on something juuuuust out of frame.

Update: Gordo just tweeted us another Knuble shrine. This time in the concourse of the arena.

Boudreau and Gordon look on from the bench. (Photo credit: Debora Robinson)

Photo credit: Mark J. Terrill

You couldn’t write a better script. After 24 games under head coach Randy Carlyle, Andrew Gordon had not scored a goal and the Ducks were among the worst teams in the NHL. Enter Bruce Boudreau. In the second period of Gabby’s coaching debut with the Ducks, Gordo netted his second career NHL goal — his first since December 21, 2010, which he celebrated by kissing Marcus Johansson — knocking in a rebound off of a Ben Maxwell shot past Ilya Bryzgalov. As NHL.com’s Dave Lozo observed, Gordon is probably the first player in NHL history to get his first career goals on two different teams with the same coach.

Well, that didn’t take long. Three days after being fired by the Washington Capitals, Bruce Boudreau has landed in Anaheim to be the new head coach of the Ducks. He replaces Randy Carylye, who helped guide Anaheim to a Stanley Cup in 2007.

Rumor has it that Bruce’s first moves are to hire Gordon Bombay Bob Woods as an assistant, install the Flying V, and teach Andrew Gordon the knuckle puck.

We’re also hearing that he has a special motivational speech prepared. Here’s exclusive video of Bruce practicing it on some local youth hockey players before flying out to the West Coast.

Andrew Gordon won two Calder Cups with the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears in four seasons. He played nine games with Washington last season, scoring his first career NHL goal on future hall of famer Martin Brodeur, a feat he celebrated by kissing assister Marcus Johansson on the bench. But Andrew left the organization over the summer to hazard the free market. After a promising performance at Anaheim’s training camp, Gordon was added to the team’s roster (and then cheated on us in Finland with another blog).

Ian Oland: So Andrew, what’s the move been like from Hershey and Washington to Anaheim?

Andrew Gordon: It was different going in. California’s a lot different from the East Coast cities I’ve played in and grown to love. It’s good. Everywhere you go in hockey, it’s the same sort of thing. A lot of good hockey players. A lot of good guys who came up through the same system and had the same coaches and everything. The guys [at Anaheim] are great, and they’re easy to get along with. Plus, you leave the rink, and it’s 85 degrees everyday. Nothing to complain about there. It’s a much different lifestyle up there though. It took a little bit of an adjustment.

Gordo during warm-ups. (Photo credit: Kyle Mace)

Ian Oland: What was it like playing your old teammates tonight? In the first period, you almost checked John Carlson through the boards.

Andrew Gordon: No, I know. I just tried to make sure that I wasn’t thinking about it. That was the main thing. You know, in practice, you go out there and you don’t really finish your checks as hard as you would. These are guys I practiced with and against for years and years and years. I really tried to make sure that I didn’t treat it like that. I tried to make sure that I treated it like a game situation and ‘do what I do.’ There was a lot of good players out there that I know a lot of their tendencies and stuff. At the same time, it’s a quick game out there. It’s a fast game. Guys with that much skill can beat you. You gotta remember when you’re out there who’s on the ice with you. [The Capitals] have so much skill — no matter if you’re friends with the guys or not — they’re going to try and go out there and beat you. It was fun leading up to the game, but it wasn’t the result I wanted. I’m not too keen on how tonight ended.

Ian Oland: During your years in Hershey, you were a jack of all trades. You started your career there as a bottom-six forward. Later on, you played on the first line and was always out there on the power play. So far in Anaheim, you’ve mostly played on the third line and when the team’s shorthanded. What has the transition been like to concentrate so much on offense to now being a bottom six guy again?

Andrew Gordon: Well, you have to find a role out there. You know, guys like Perry. Guys like Getzlaf. Guys like Bobby Ryan, Selanne, Koivu. These are the guys that have been putting up numbers for years and years and years. We have guys that can score goals. We have guys that are going to play those offensive minutes, those powerplay minutes. So they’re starting me off on the PK. It was something I used to do back in Hershey a few years ago. It was something I used to do back in college quite a bit. So I’ve been taking that really seriously and have really been trying to contribute on that end of the ice. A team is made up of 20-25 guys and not everyone is going to score every night. When you’re not scoring — as I’ve been struggling with lately — you have to make sure you’re contributing in other ways every night. Our PK was pretty good, but [the bottom six guys] have to find a way to chip in. Like I said earlier, change is inevitable when a team starts struggling like this. Managers and coaches aren’t going to put up with losing. So everybody’s gotta find a way to dig ourselves out of this. Everybody’s got to find a way to do their jobs a little bit better. For me, that’s keeping up with this PK and not giving up anything while I’m on the ice. And also finding a way to contribute offensively.

Photo credit: Kyle Mace

Another fan's sign dedicated to Andrew. (Photo credit: Kyle Mace)

Ian Oland: What did you think of the warm reception you got from Caps fans during warm-ups? There certainly were a lot of signs…

Andrew Gordon: It was really nice. It was wonderful. Yeah, it was good to see a lot of people from Hershey, some familiar faces. It’s a community that’s embraced me and I really grew to love during my time here. To see that I haven’t been forgotten quickly, that really means a lot to me. It’s really a unique situation here in Washington and Hershey. The fans and the media, they don’t mind that short two-hour drive ‘down the street.’ It’s sorta like one big community whereas with a newer organization — the teams are split up by cost and country — and you don’t really hear what’s going on in the minor leagues. Even though I played about 95% of my career in Hershey, it was like I was a member of this Washington Capitals family for a long time. It was great to see how some of the staff and some of the fans welcomed me back. It was much appreciated.

Ian Oland: Is it because you’re superstitious or maybe waiting for a certain something to happen this year?

Andrew Gordon: I just wanted to make sure I was focusing on the right things. There was no single event that triggered it. I just wanted to make sure I was thinking about the right things out there. Focus a little bit harder. But you know, I should definitely switch back soon. I haven’t scored a goal since I quit! I think with Movember coming up, I’m going to do some promotion and generate some money for that organization. I’m sure you’ll see me back on there pretty soon.

Image of Hiller’s mask via The Goalie Guild.

Ian Oland: What did you think of Hiller’s mask by the way with you on there? What did you think of your portrait?

Andrew Gordon: ::laughs:: Oh man, I don’t know. That’s more stache’ growth than I’ll probably have for my whole life! It was pretty cool. He first brought the mask in when we were in Minnesota. Everyone got a good laugh out of it. It was pretty creative. He did a great job on it that’s for sure!

Ian Oland: So big question. What were your feelings when you made Anaheim out of camp? Last year with the Caps, you were one of the final cuts, one of the final three not to make the team.

Andrew Gordon: I mentioned this to someone earlier in the day. It wasn’t like one day the coaches called me into the office and said ‘congratulations.’ Just no one told me I wasn’t on the team. It was a no news is good news kind of thing. So as long as they haven’t talked to you, then they can’t really be too upset by the way you’ve been playing. That’s been the case for me so far. I don’t know — whenever you’re a rookie or a guy that’s constantly on the bubble — nothing’s guaranteed. You have to earn every practice. You have to earn every game. You have to earn every minute you get out there. So for me, it’s not like I made the team yet. It’s a 365 day tryout I’m on now. I gotta make sure I bring my ‘A’ game every day, and unfortunately I don’t know if today was it.

Gordo gives a hug to a fan in a Hershey Bears jersey before warm-ups. (Photo credit: Kyle Mace)

Ian Oland: We talked about this earlier, so you know what should be coming. Tell me something great about Teemu Selanne.

Andrew Gordon: What’s NOT great about Teemu Selanne would be the better question. Growing up he was my favorite player. In fact, there’s still some of my old posters of him up at my parents’ house that I see when I come home for the summers. My dad’s from Winnipeg, so I used to watch [the Jets] religiously all the time. He turns out to be one of the best guys in the game. You find that nobody in the world has a bad thing to say about Teemu Selanne. I think his character and personality is what brings him above all the other superstars. You know, if you look, and there’s an article written about him, you’ll look and see the comments below and they’ll say, ‘I hate the Ducks, but I love Teemu Selanne.’ Nobody has anything bad to say about the guy. He’s a guy that gives back to the community. He welcomes young guys. He’s really the face of this franchise. He’d probably be the face of the NHL if he was a little bit younger. The personality behind this great player and this great skill set is something that stands out to me and makes him above the rest. He’s an unbelievable guy and I’m really fortunate to play with him.

Ian Oland: Awesome. Well good luck with the facial hair. It was obviously very nice catching up with you.